GETTING IN: A MATTER OF PATIENCE AND PRIORITY

Published: April 10, 1986

There are about as many people on the waiting list for public housing in New York City as live in Washington.

About 200,000 families - more than 600,000 people - have been certified as eligible and have updated their applications within the last two years. When an application becomes two years old, a letter is sent to the applicant, advising the person that he must reapply to remain on the list.

At last year's turnover rate of 3.2 percent, it would take about 40 years to house every family on the list, according to the Housing Authority.

Certain families are given priority and are moved more quickly along the list. There are three basic grades of priorities, according to the director of the Department of Housing Applications, Herbert Hamburg.

The first is an emergency situation, which includes displacement as a result of action by a public agency; dangerous housing conditions (for example, after a fire); homelessness, and severe health emergencies. The second is extremely substandard or grossly overcrowded conditions, or where the housing creates a serious health hardship. The third is substandard or hardship conditions.

There has never been an arrest or indictment of an authority employee in connection with a bribe being taken or solicited in exchange for providing an apartment, according to the authority's Inspector General, Jesse Mercado. Mr. Hamburg said he ''would not foreclose the possibility of bribing on a petty level,'' but he said no complaints had come to his attention.

Representatives of nongovernmental groups that deal with housing for the poor, such as the Settlement Housing Fund and the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, said they had not heard of authority employees demanding either money or favors to help an applicant obtain an apartment. There have been arrests of outsiders posing as authority employees to defraud people seeking public housing.

Every month, project managers report their vacancies and projected vacancies to a central office. As apartments become available, a computer pulls applications with the highest priority and earliest filing date and sends a letter scheduling an interview.

At the interview, an applicant must bring proof of residency, family composition and income. The interviewer has a list of available apartments that is reviewed with the applicant. If an applicant agrees to an apartment, the application is certified and sent to the project's management office.